A/N: New prompt time lovelies! Hope you all enjoy it, even if the content is a little bit sad this time around, I'm happy with the way this came out, it wrote its self really. Visit me at my tumblr page to submit your own prompts and follow my writing adventures.

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DAMAGED GOODS

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It was the middle of the night when the blankets were suddenly torn off of Android 18, exposing her nearly naked body to the cold night air. She was dazed and still half asleep, and failed to notice the fist careening towards her until in thumped her in the collarbone.

There was a significant force behind the attack, it hurt, and 18 retaliated automatically, snatching the wrist of the perpetrator out of midair and clenching it in her dangerous grasp. It happened in less than a second, and as the rest of 18's senses caught up to her in the dark room, she realized that something wasn't right.

"Krillin?" she let go of his arm and the small man immediately pulled away. His body was thrashing wildly as he tossed and turned, and he cried incoherent nonsense into the dark. "Krillin!" 18 said again, with more urgency. She reached out to nudge his shoulder, but he swatted her away, accidently managing to backhand her across the face as he did.

Enough. After flicking on the lamp on the bedside table, 18 realized she was left with no choice but to take matters into her own hands. Krillin had been possessed by a demon and it was going to be up to her to perform the exorcism. She wasn't going to let herself get attacked a third time, that was for sure. She climbed over Krillin, straddling his thighs and immobilizing his legs, before pinning his arms down over his chest. "Krillin!" she used her remaining free hand to lightly slap his face, "Krillin, what's going on?!"

Krillin's eyes shot open and he inhaled with such violent force that come morning, his ribs would hurt. "Ahhh… whaaa…" for the first few seconds his body jumped into protection mode and he tried to attack, but he was unable to move, fuelling his fear even further. It took another agonizingly long three or four seconds for his vision to come into focus. For him to realize that he was safe in his bedroom, and that it wasn't a monster pinning him down, it was 18.

Sweet, beautiful 18. Who was staring down at him with a mixture of confusion, concern and fear etched across her pretty face. She opened her mouth to say something, but before even a single word had left her lips, Krillin shot up.

He sat up and threw his arms around 18's body, clinging onto her with almost as much force as he was able to. Their height difference and the fact that she was still sitting on his legs meant that his face was pressed up against her naked chest, but the current situation was about as far from erotic as a situation could get.

"18…" Krillin managed to splutter through his panting. He was gasping for air with the desperate urgency of someone who had just engaged in a life or death battle. The gasping soon gave way to crying. Huge, wracking, soul crushing sobs – the likes of which 18 had never encountered. Krillin's entire body shook as he wept loudly and openly against her. She could feel his tears rolling down her breasts, dripping off her nipples and splashing onto her thighs.

So far out of her element was 18, that her entire body tensed up. She was not used to such overt displays of emotion, either positive or negative and she had no idea how to act, or what words to say that might make Krillin feel better. She wasn't even entirely sure what had just happened, since everything had unfolded so quickly. Two minutes ago, she'd been sound asleep. Eventually, she reached up and placed her hands on Krillin's back, rubbing them up and down in what she hoped was a soothing gesture. It must have been, because Krillin started to retreat from his hysteria shortly thereafter. His fingers, which had been digging so tightly into her shoulder blades, started to relax, and the ferocious beating of his heart finally began to calm.

"I'm sorry." Finally, Krillin pulled away and wiped at his face with the back of his hand. "18, I'm sorry. I was having a nightmare." He paused for a moment, closing his eyes so that he could focus on his breathing. In, two, three, four. Out, two, three, four. Just the same way he did when he was meditating. The rhythm was soothing and familiar. "You shouldn't have had to see that. I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing," 18 said, she felt like she needed to add more, but what exactly, she had no idea. So instead of saying anything, she simply took Krillin's hands in her own and gave them a gentle squeeze.

Krillin sighed deeply. Disappointed didn't even come close to how he was feeling right now. His soul was crushed. He was hollow and empty and scared and humiliated and angry at himself for being so stupid. He'd just ruined everything, he was sure of it. 18 wouldn't want to stick around with him now. Not now that he'd revealed he was clearly a basket case. Lifting his heavy eyes, Krillin finally worked up the courage to look at 18, dreading what he was going to see. Repulsion, most likely. A look he had seen a thousand times before, and knew all too well, but which still stung every time.

But he was wrong.

"It's okay," 18 reached up and brushed some hair, which was damp with a combination of sweat and tears, off of Krillin's forehead. In her eyes, he only saw concern and kindness. "It's alright."

Relief flooded Krillin's system. He was suddenly exhausted and let himself collapse forward against 18. With his cheek pressed against her chest, and his arms loosely wrapped around her waist, he sighed again and closed his eyes. Everything was okay.

When Krillin's eyes next opened, it was morning. He didn't remember falling back to sleep, but he must have, because now, bright sunlight was pouring in through the open window, blinding him with its warm glow. The first thing that Krillin noticed upon waking, was that his head was pounding. He had a thumping headache, and the back of his throat felt like he'd been existing on a diet of nails and sandpaper.

The second thing he noticed was that he was alone. It was hardly a surprise, but still, it stung. He'd been half hoping that 18 may have taken some kind of pity on him, and hung around long enough for him to at least try and explain what happened last night. But he could hardly blame her for running.

Krillin lay in bed for a few more minutes, staring at the ceiling and berating himself, before his need for water became too overwhelming and he was forced to get up. Begrudgingly, he climbed out of bed, pulled on his shorts and headed downstairs. Water didn't help. Even as he forced the fourth glass and a handful of paracetemol past the razor blades in his throat, he knew it wouldn't make him feel any better. The damage had been done. Perhaps some fresh air would help to wake him up.

It was only a few steps across the living room from the kitchen to the front door of the Kame House, and Krillin was still bleary eyed and half asleep as he made the trek. It made the surprise he got as he stepped out onto the small porch all the more surprising.

"18?!" he half stammered-half yelped, well and truly caught off guard by her presence. "What are… what are you still doing here?"

18, who had been sitting on the steps gazing out to sea, turned to face her weary companion. "I didn't realise I was required to leave the minute the sun came up," she replied coolly.

"No, no, that's not it." Krillin instantly felt like a fool. Why did everything that came out of his stupid mouth have to be wrong? Was it really too much to ask to just even one time, be suave? He stepped off the porch and onto the beach, turning back to face 18 and digging his toes into the warm sand. "I just thought… what time is it?"

"Almost noon."

"Almost noon?!" Krillin was the type of person who was usually up with the sun. It wasn't uncommon for him to oversleep by an hour or two after he had an episode like last night, but to sleep until noon? That was unheard of. No wonder his neck was stiff and his mouth tasted like a foot. "You should have woken me, I'm you're host, I should have made you breakfast or something."

"I'm perfectly capable of operating a toaster, Krillin," 18 replied. "And look," she held up a mug. "Tea. I made this myself too. Aren't you proud of me?"

"That's not what I meant 18," Krillin really didn't need 18's sarcasm. He already felt bad enough as it was. "I'm sorry. Thank you for staying. When I woke up alone," Krillin's voice was heavy and he couldn't bring himself to look 18 in the eyes, instead choosing to direct his focus at his feet, "I thought for sure I was never going to see you again. I wouldn't have blamed you, y'know? I know we haven't been doing this for very long, no one would expect you to have to deal with what happened last night. I'm so sorry you had to see it."

Even though 18 was mildly insulted by the fact that Krillin seemed to think she completely lacked any kind of concern or empathy for him, she chose to let it go. For now anyway. Because the fact of the matter was that she was concerned for him, and that last night had rattled her as much as it had him. She took a long and thoughtful sip from her cup of tea. "Has that ever happened before?" she eventually asked.

Suddenly, Krillin found himself faced with somewhat of a dilemma. Did he tell 18 the truth? That this was a problem the plagued him almost every night? Or did he brush it off as a strange one off and beg to which ever god might be willing to hear his prayer that he could somehow get on top of this?

On the one hand, 18 was here with him right now. She'd seen what had happened last night, and she was still here, and it seemed like she was genuinely interested in helping and supporting him. And even more than that, she hadn't freaked out in the moment. She had provided Krillin with comfort and stability – which she had been under no obligation to do, given the circumstances.

Which brought him to point two. This relationship was still brand new. So new, in fact, that it hadn't even officially been labeled as anything yet. 18 had only spent the night a handful of times, on the weekends when Roshi and Oolong headed to the mainland. What they had right now was fragile and delicate and needed to be carefully nurtured so that it could hopefully grow into something deep and meaningful. Throwing this spanner into the works might make 18 realise that falling in love with Krillin was just going to be too hard. That he was too broken and she should just wash her hands of the whole thing now before she got herself in to deep.

"It's… not a problem," he went with the lie, and instantly hated himself for it. "That's never happened before."

18's dropped her head, casting a dark, ominous shadow across her eyes. Why was Krillin lying to her? He may as well have been totally transparent for how easy it was to see through him when he wasn't being honest. With her, or with anyone else for that matter. Krillin just wasn't built to lie.

"Really?" she asked, giving him one last chance.

"Really."

Alright, if he wanted to do this the hard way, 18 was willing to play. She looked up at him, giving him one last chance to confess, but he remained stoically silent. Okay then. "You hit me last night, you know?" 18 dropped her power card. "Twice."

She watched as Krillin's usually tanned skin took on an unnatural shade of green. She could practically see the wave of nausea roll though him, and his stomach drop down into his pelvis. He began to quiver and sweat as a panic attack started to take hold. The reaction was even more dramatic and visceral than 18 had anticipated and she instantly regretted baiting him like that.

"N….no," Krillin said, stuttering over his words, "N-never. I would never hit you."

"You did," 18 held her cool, despite how difficult it was to watch Krillin breakdown. She sensed that the only way to get him to truly open up to her about last night was going to be with brute force. "Look." She pulled aside the neck of the teeshirt she was wearing to reveal a not-insignificant bruise on her collarbone, and held it long enough to ensure that its image was well and truly burned into Krillin's memory. "And here too," she continued, pointing to a small scratch on her cheek. "I was asleep, and you attacked me."

Tears begun to form at the edges of Krillin's eyes. He tried his best to rub them away, but more replaced them. His heart was beating in his chest like a freight train thundering along the tracks, all the meditation in the world wouldn't be able to calm him now. "18," he managed to say, before everything started to spin around him. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, lost amongst the blaring sirens of the panic, he could hear 18 telling him to 'breath okay? Just breathe' but her words held no meaning right now. Krillin staggered, through the growing fog, down to the shoreline. It was June, and even though winter in the tropics wasn't exactly cold, the water still stung like icy needles as he waded in, until the sea was swimming around his knees, and plunged his entire body under. The shock reset Krillin's brain, dissipating the panic that had been baring down on him, threating to push him over the edge into full blown delirium. Krillin forced himself to stay underwater until his lungs were burning for air and he was completely incapable of thinking of anything else besides the desperate need to breathe.

By the time he had resurfaced, and trudged out of the ocean and up the beach, 18 has been inside and was now standing back out on the porch, holding a towel. She tossed it to Krillin, and he gratefully wrapped it around his dripping frame.

"Shall we try again?" 18 asked, as she settled in once again on the steps and took another sip from her tea. The coolness in her voice belied the guilt she was feeling inside over the distress she had just caused her companion. She could only hope that it would be helpful in the long run. "Are you ready to tell me the truth now?"

Krillin shuddered, and pulled the towel tighter around his shoulders. He looked at 18, who was looking back at him. Their eyes met, and he just couldn't figure her out. "Okay," he nodded and sat down beside 18. She didn't even move away when the sea water that was still dripping from Krillin's shorts pooled beside her and started to stroke her leg with its icy tendrils.

"Have you had dreams like that before?"

Krillin nodded slowly, he was lost in his thoughts. His gaze was focused somewhere far out at sea, on nothing in particular. "My entire life," he replied. "I started having them as a kid, at Orin Temple. The other students and the monks there beat the ever living hell out of me. Every day. For nine years. Until I finally got up the courage to do the least brave thing I could do and run away."

18 didn't say anything. She already knew that, of course. Her data bank on not just Krillin, but basically everyone she knew, was extensive and detailed, but she'd always been able to push it aside as fiction. Just a made up story that Gero had planted there for some fucked up reason, to mess with her. But to hear the words directly from Krillin's mouth made it real. Heartbreaking. She had come to know Krillin over the past year for who he truly was, and that was a kind, honest, gentle and humble man. The thought that anyone could ever see him as anything less, or worse, lay a single finger on him filled her with both sadness and rage in equal parts. 18 didn't see it now, but in years to come, she would look back on her life and realise that this was the moment she knew she wanted to keep Krillin safe forever. This would be the moment that she truly fell in love with him.

"Can you imagine your very first memories being nothing but terror? It doesn't exactly set you up for a healthy adulthood."

18 almost laughed at the irony of Krillin's question. "Yeah, I can actually," she replied, and allowed herself a little smirk as she watched Krillin's face turn as red hot as the sun.

"Fuck." He looked over at 18, surprised to see somewhat of a grin on her face. "I didn't even…. Of course you can…. I'm such an idiot, I'm sorry."

Without a second thought, 18 reached over and gave Krillin's forearm a gentle, reassuring squeeze. "Go on," she urged him.

"I don't even know what to tell you 18. Should I talk to someone about this? I mean, yeah, probably. But who? Who the hell am I meant to go to and say, I was bullied as a kid by monks, then I ran away and was killed by a monster not once, but twice, but it's okay, because I got wished back to life both times – because that's totally a thing that happens. And then there was another monster, and despite the fact that by this point I had put years and years of my life into becoming strong, I was still useless and had to stand by and watch as innocent bystanders got eaten by said monster, who then killed my best friend and emotionally ruined his 11 year old son. Also, I look like this! If I were a shrink and I walked into my office, I'd lock myself in the looney bin and throw away the key!" Krillin ranted, unleashing what was probably a life time of pent up frustration on poor 18. He stopped to take a breath before he continued. "So yeah, I've been dealing with this shit on my own for a while now, and the nightmares, and the anxiety, and the self-hatred, the fear, the mood swings, the avoidance, I'm sure it's all part of that. But at this point, I'm beyond repair."

"You are not."

"I shouldn't be alive 18! I should have died as a stupid 17 year old kid. I did die as a stupid 17 year old kid. Tambourine… he snapped my neck. I can still feel his hands crushing me sometimes," a shiver ran down Krillin spine and without even realizing, he lifted his hand to touch his throat. "There's a lot of pressure to make something of yourself after people have literally moved heaven and earth to wish you back from the dead. I've always carried that around with me, and I've always felt like I've failed the gift I was given. I trained so hard in between coming back and ending up on Namek 18, like, you have no idea. I'd never been more grateful to be here and my mind was clear and focused. I was as strong as I'd ever been. I almost killed Vegeta you know. And then once we finally found ourselves up on Namek, it all just went to shit again. Frieza, that bastard. I guess something good did come out of him killing me though, it meant that Goku was finally able to ascend to Super Saiyan, but fuck, what does that say about me if the only way I was able to be useful was by exploding? People put so much faith in me, wishing me back, and I just went and died again. And then those idiots wished me back a second time! And I just let them down again by being useless against Cell!"

"You weren't useless against Cell," 18 blurted out, startling Krillin, who in all honestly, had forgotten she was even sitting beside him. "You saved me."

"I didn't save you! I was the reason you got absorbed. It was my fault that Cell became perfect. It's my fault Goku is dead. He loved me enough to revive me twice and I let him die."

"You did no such thing."

"I did!" Krillin argued, his voice begun to quiver as his emotions once again started to bubble up inside of him. Usually, he did whatever he possibly could to avoid talking or thinking about this, because it always ended with him having a panic attack, but there was no avoiding it now. "If I had just pressed that remote-"

"If you have of pressed that remote, Krillin, then I wouldn't be here." 18 cut Krillin off mid-sentence. "You spared me. And who's to know how things would of unfolded if you had of pressed it, anyway. Gero was evil, but he was smart. For all you know, he had a backup plan for if something happened to 17 or I. Things could still have unfolded in exactly the same way. You are not to blame for what happened with Cell. You're not a failure."

"D-do you really think that? Or are you just trying to make me feel better?"

18 picked up her mug and cradled it in her hands. She took a long sip, finishing the tea. She swished the last gulp around her mouth, pondering as she did. "I have them too, you know," was her eventual response. "Nightmares."

"Really?" Krillin's eyebrows shot up in surprise, although he realized that it shouldn't be that surprising at all. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything you've been through, 18. It's not fair for me to unload all of my garbage you, when you've had it so much worse than me." Suddenly feeling overwhelmed, Krillin buried his face in his hands and groaned. "I've ruined this, haven't I?" he asked

"No." was 18's short reply.

Krillin peeped through a gap in his fingers to reveal 18 staring at him. She wasn't wearing her usual cool and aloof expression anymore, but something kinder, warmer. Krillin had a feeling he was the only one who got to see this softer side of her. He dropped his hands away from his face. "No?"

"No."

A moment of stillness fell between the pair, as they took some time to collect their thoughts. It was comfortable and familiar as they sat side by side in silence, listening to the gentle ebbing and flowing of the ocean as it rolled up onto the shore. Krillin closed his eyes, breathing in and out, slowly, rhythmically, until his mind was as calm as his surroundings. It was 18 who eventually spoke first.

"It'll be your turn soon enough." Her hand skimmed over the porch until it found Krillin's and she gave it a squeeze.

"My turn for what?"

"For you to see me have a nightmare. If I'm still welcome to spend the night, that is."

Krillin blushed, and 18 smiled. It was the most adorable sight, to see the fluster race up his cheeks. "Course you are," he mumbled. 'Every night, for the rest of my life, forever' he added in his head.

"Alright then," 18 nodded. They weren't looking at each other, but when Krillin stole a glance from the corner of his eye, he could see that 18 was smiling, and not that she would ever admit it, but it looked like he wasn't the only one whose cheeks were a little bit flushed right now. "We make a good pair, you and I," she said. "We're both damaged goods."

"There's nothing damaged about you. You're perfect." The words had spewed from Krillin's mouth before his brain had a chance to intervene, and this time, there would be no way for 18 to deny the colour on her face.

"Yes, well," she chose to ignore Krillin's little proclamation for now, and pushed on with what she'd been trying to say. "That's debatable, but the point remains that I think we can help each other with this."

"How so?"

"Just by doing this." 18 shrugged her shoulders. It wasn't much of a plan, really, but it was all she had right now. She'd make the rest of it up as they went along. "You say you have no one to talk to about this stuff, well now you do. Talk to me." Out of nowhere, a wave of bashfulness washed over 18, and she found herself feeling somewhat shy. "If you want to…" She wasn't used to the feeling of putting herself on the line like this, and it hit her out of nowhere – the realization that she very much wanted to be the person that Krillin confided in when things just became too much to deal with on his own.

"You really think we can do this?" Krillin asked. "Fix each other?"

"I do." 18 nodded

A smile spread across Krillin's face. It wasn't much, but it was something. Somewhere to begin, at least. Maybe with 18 beside him he could finally take the first, baby sized steps towards moving on from a lifetime of heartbreak and trauma. And maybe in turn, he could help her do the same. "Alright," he agreed. "Let's do it."

Maybe 18 was right. Maybe, one day, they really were going to be the best team ever.

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A/N: That's it for now guys. Until next time, keep on loving K/18 as much as I do! Back soon with a new prompt (which I think will be a NSFW one!)